Talking Bird
by mercuryxx
Summary: The Mad Hatter, White Rabbit, and March Hare just want their old Wonderland back. The Cheshire Cat likes the human world and its' inhabitants just fine. The Red Queen however, wants her Wonderland back under her rule, and out of Charlotte's reality.
1. Chapter 1

**My Talking Bird.**

-Rated T for Drugs, etc.-

**It started with a deal.**

A quick exchange, no words, only quick, shadowy movements. The brick around them was too in-focus; the grime was calling out in fear, in realization. The city yelled it's curses, but the young woman was deaf to the sound. Her senses clouded with _want,_ delicious _yearning_. She needed the break. She needed her alternate reality.

**She wanted a Wonderland.**

.........

It was dark enough by the time she got home that she couldn't see too far past the glow of the streetlights. As she entered the weathered old house it tittered and creaked, whining and nagging like the young woman's late Grandmother. A grin was plastered to her face as she sat on the bare mattress in her room; as the _high _finally hit her. Her back hit the mattress with a dull smack.

.........

The walls weren't walls; they were moving, breathing masses of color. The paint swirled and groaned, reaching out to me. I reached my hands above my head, closed my eyes. My eyelids smiled at me. I smiled back. Everything was wonderful. Beautiful. I stood and walked out of my room, running my hands along all of the moss and vines hanging from the ceiling. Mushrooms the colors of childhood popped at me, beckoning. I heard voices from all around; everywhere. Everything was everywhere. Everything was nowhere.

"Charlotte, Charlotte, my dear little Harlot."

I danced and screamed and hummed.

"Charlotte, CHARLOTTE,"

The ceiling fan went faster and faster and faster

"My dear,"

Coming towards me

"Little,"

The scream left me, curling out of my mouth like an accordion.

"HARLOT."

.........

I awoke with my head spinning, spinning. I stood, the world around me turning, turning my stomach. I vomited, the remnants of last nights dinner of mushrooms greeting me again.

**This is me sober, I guess.**

I stumbled into the shower, turning the water on as high and hot as it could go. I wanted to melt. To melt down the drain and away from this house, from these dealers, from the mocking sunshine now streaming through the window, everything. Away from life.

I think I do, at least.

My fingers acted on their own. Like concerned mothers they fretted my coppery hair with shampoo, pulling at the knots and ignoring the few dreads and braids. Soap floated down in a river over my chest, pooling serenely at my feet, and then navigating down that cursed drain.

Wash, rinse, repeat.

I almost fell out of the shower, stumbling to grab a terry-cloth towel. I wrapped it around me messily as I turned to the mirror. My hand kissed the surface, and then circulated, clearing the fog from the reflective glass. The Looking Glass.

Staring back at me was a stranger. A stranger with died hair the color of bronze. With grey eyes that looked hazed, and then disgusted. The stranger's full lips curled into a grin, that said everything but 'I'm happy.'

With that, Charlotte Alice Cidel left the stranger in the mirror.

.........

Outside of the graying house was a garden.

The garden is dead. Has been for twenty years. But somewhere in that garden, in the upper left corner behind the remains of a Hollyhock shrub, a small bud popped out of the soil and heaved a musical sigh.

And so it has begun.

.........

This was the best trip Charlotte had ever had. Everything was real. For once, she wasn't frightened into her mind, but the world just seemed…sunny. Light streamed, flowers bloomed naturally from the floorboards, a lazy breeze brushed her face. Everything was just wonderful.

_She brought the blazing, wrapped paper to her mouth and inhaled Mother Nature. Mother tried her best to free from Charlotte's pink lungs, but the young woman kept her down, and then let her go, go, go, swirling around until Charlie felt dizzily relaxed._

"_Charliiiiieeeee…"_

_The girl's head popped up two seconds too late. Too seconds two late. Aha._

_She walked drowsily, sidestepping smoke-people and vines that kept lacing up her ankles. The voice called her to the bathroom._

_The door was shut, but Charlotte could see the light was on, and purple and green smoke was filtering out from under the rotting door, through the keyhole…_

_She turned the door handle and slithered inside. Sitting in her shower was a caterpillar-woman. The woman turned and beckoned to Charlotte._

"_Charlie." Her words poured from her red mouth, the hookah smoke writing the pet name in the air. One of her four hands reached for the girl, a smile alighting her discolored face. Her naked body gleamed in the cascading light and saturated shadows. Long tendrils of vines poured from the showerhead, and the tub was moss-covered. A tree feathered out from behind the toilet, looking as if it had been there for hundreds of years. Charlotte was, erm, rooted to the spot._

"_Oh Charlie, Charlie, Charlie. This is so, so, so lovely. It's nice to be out again."_

_Charlotte giggled and passed out. Again._

.........

When Charlotte woke up, it was raining outside.

She didn't bother to look at her shower, where she would have seen a discarded hookah and a couple of vines slithering down the drain like soapy water. She also didn't notice the tree.

She instead noticed the hunger in her belly. She walked steadily to her kitchen, pulling a box of crackers out of her cabinet, along with some questionable cheese from the fridge. She gobbled the crackers in their entirety, leaving only an empty box and a small hunk of cheese left. Satiated, she took a walk in the garden.

Or, what was left of it.

Charlotte remembered looking at pictures of her Grandmother in this garden, and her mother before that, and _her _mother before that. Charlotte's Great-Great grandmother was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Tall, with blonde hair and blue eyes. Perfect. Except she was diagnosed as schizophrenic. They said she was crazy.

Charlotte giggled to herself. _But aren't we all a bit Mad?_

She was put in an asylum at the age of forty-five, a month after the birth of her grandchild. After the woman's incarceration, it became her child and grandchild's duty to keep up with the garden. But then the Grandchild became old, and her children and grandchildren were too busy with modern life to burden themselves with the upkeep of a silly garden.

So when Charlotte's Grandmother died, she took the garden with her.

The teen looked around her now as rain pattered against her bare shoulders. There wasn't anything alive in the patch of Earth except for bugs and weeds. Charlotte walked among the dilapidated debris, sighing with inner peace, and running her fingers along the vines and weeds and dead flowers. As she reached the end of the garden where a cement birdbath stood somewhat crookedly, a green flash caught her eye.

A plant in the corner was growing rapidly from the deadened ground, shooting up towards the sky. The plant sent its' tendrils around the bewildered girl, gliding past her ankles deftly and slithering across the garden. Green spread like wildfire. Flowers and leaves and fruits and vegetables and trees sprouted from that one spot, filling the small plot with unimaginable colors. And then, four people popped out too.

.........

I could have sworn that I was high, that this wasn't reality. But my vision was clear; strikingly, beautifully, fearfully clear. A scream halted in my throat, making me choke. This all is so strange. Nothing like this has ever happened before. This is all too much.

I expect it when I'm on something, but not sober. No. I can't be. The acid hasn't worn off yet. It can't have, it-

"You, girl."

My thoughts were rudely interrupted by a boy sitting on a three foot tall Toadstool. My eyes widened, and the rain fell harder. Reality has caught up with my dreams.

…………

A/N: So there it is. I'm nervous already. Gah. It's a tad short, I think. But I would absolutely _love_ it if you told me what you think :3


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two.**

The rain poured and Charlotte remained completely frozen. The boy on the mushroom continued speaking, but she couldn't really absorb what was being said. His yellow eyes glared, and finally he broke through.

"I _said_, are you Charlotte Alice?"

The girl shook her copper head, her eyes still glued to the young man. She somehow opened her mouth and answered.

"Um, yeah. I… yeah."

The boy nodded, dark indigo hair sticking to his face from the rain. A smile erupted suddenly onto his features and he leapt from the Toadstool, coming to stand directly before her.

"Hmm, you're very different from the last Alice. Different color hair, and eyes, and you've got these things sticking through your skin. Strange, strange…" He mused to himself, beginning to stalk around her, his eyes probing and eating away at her body. When he stood in front of her, he frowned at her pursed lips and knotted brows.

"That is definitely _not_ an attractive expression, Charlotte Alice. And you're face is _so_ attractive…" he quirked his head towards the bewildered teen, causing her to pull her head back. His smirk turned dangerous….

"You silly Cat, what are you doing?"

Both heads turned to the take in the appearance of a younger teen, his skin a rich brown and his hair a fine gold. His eyes held warmth in its purest form.

"Hmmm, Hare. You came too?" 'Cat' stepped towards the boy, tilting his head up in mock inquiry. The boy scowled.

"Of _coarse_ I came here, dolt. We all did. What did you do?" Anger caused the boy's eyes to narrow and his hair to almost rise in agitation. The teen next to Charlotte seemed to purr.

"_I_ didn't do _anything_." Cat strolled serenely away, inspecting a tall magenta rose the size of his head. "I believe you should ask _her._"

"What could this girl have to do with any of this, Cheshire Cat?" A new voice joined the conversation, and Charlotte's head whipped around as a young girl padding out from behind a giant palm frond. Her hair was a mess of short white-blonde curls, her skin the color of cream. Her head twitched from 'Hare' to Charlotte, her vermilion eyes scanning Charlotte like a wolf eyes its' prey.

"Hmm, well, Rabbit, it seems that she's the new Alice."

………

I collapsed to the ground, the cotton-made green dress pooling around my knees and melding with mud. My hands found my face and knotted into my hair.

"This, this is… ridiculous. I mean, I've seen weird shit. Lots and lots and lots of strange, weird things, but this… No. What is... who..." my sentence trailed off into babble. A lone vine trailed up my leg, patting me consolingly as the Cheshire Cat- _Cheshire Cat?_- chuckled. A rustling to my left signaled the movement of the brown boy, 'Hare'.

"Ah, m'dear, it's all right." He tapped my head awkwardly, and continued on in his British accent. "This can't really be true. It can't be because… because of you." He mumbled, more to himself than anyone else. He began pacing, tugging at his white dress shirt and brown corduroy trousers.

"Well, what else could this all be? I mean, the Queen doesn't have the sort of power to put us all in the Overworld. You know that, March." The pale girl stated, her eyes boring into The Hare's roving form.

"Well, whatever this is, I am _not _complaining. I was getting rather tired of moving about on four legs." Cat walked over and grabbed me by the arm, rousing me from thought.

"Now, get on, Charlotte Alice. I may like having two legs, but I don't like standing in the rain." He shoved me as gently as he could towards the house, gesturing for me to lead. My mouth still hanging open, and really not understanding at all what was going on, I stayed rooted.

"You'll explain to me about… you… and …. Why exactly you're… in my garden?" I stuttered out, fingers twitching, needing a cigarette. The young man sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Yes, yes, whatever you'd like, Miss Charlotte Alice. Just get me into some warmth, it's rightly chilly out here, girl. And you two, I suggest you come too. I'm sure you wouldn't want to catch cold." He smiled, that grin that means more that what it is, and can hold every secret in the world, and turned to nudge me again. I heard the other two newcomers grudgingly step forward.

"HEY, WAIT A _RIGHT _SECOND."

The motley procession stopped, turning back towards the center of the… new addition to the Dead Garden. My jaw dropped, and I could feel Cat grab my arm with a seething hiss. From behind the Toadstool popped a man in a top hat.

"Hatter. I see you also got dragged here to the Overworld." Hare stepped towards the gangly man with a small smile.

"Mmm, that's where this is… Peculiar. But intriguing. Somewhat. I guess…" He trailed off, his Kelly eyes wandering, reminding me fleetingly of a child entering a museum. The green orbs stopped momentarily on every member of the group before landing on me and narrowing significantly. He scoffed.

"Your hair needs cutting."

And with that, I let out a noise somewhere between a laugh and a sigh, and, eyes rolling back into my head, fainted.

………

Mad Hatter looked incredulously from his old friend (who looked especially young for being an old friend) to the fallen girl.

"Oh, what did I say?" He breathed taking a tenuous step forward and then three staccato steps back. He didn't exactly know what to do. The snide voice of a certain feline perked up.

"I don't know, Hatter, I thought most women fainted at the sight of you." The Cheshire Cat's face reeked of loathing for the madman, his yellow eyes turning to slits. Hatter either didn't understand the comment or chose to ignore it. He tiptoed forward gingerly, holding his cane under his arm and nodding his famous top hat off. He squatted down next to the unconscious teen, his head quirked over her. Understanding hit him like a brick.

"This is… her. The new… the new…"

"_Alice._ The new Alice, yes, Hatter." White Rabbit stepped forward nodding. The Mad Hatter gave her a queer look before diverting his gaze back to Charlotte. His eyes poured over her as he spoke.

"She looks much like the _old_ Alice, but not quite as small, and with different hair, and _much _more developed…" A smirk took over his features before flashing back to the normal, almost stoic and curious look. "And she has hooks and holes in her ears. And a jewel on her mouth. This girl must be _mad_." The Cheshire Cat rolled his eyes and rolled up the sleeves to his light pink dress shirt.

"That's all very nice, Hatter, but I'm done with all of this Overworld weather. Let's get her in the house."

………

I was walking. Or running, or skipping, or sprinting. Whatever it was, I was moving. Gliding towards oblivion. Hands grabbed at me but I kept on moving. Voices murmured and screamed to me, but one stuck out, telling me to just keep on moving. Keep on going, going, going.

_The sky opened up and I dropped through, falling into a lake that was more smoke than water. Purple tendrils snaked around me and through me, filling me up. It was all rather peculiar. _

_The smoke snakes pushed me up so that I was standing, waist-deep in the lake. More than ten yards in front of me was a tree, so large and thrumming with life. Glorious life. Standing in front of the tree was a man, or a boy, his hair wild and his eyes hard and serious. Green eyes. Green like jealousy._

"_Alice…"_

_I stepped forward tentatively. Began running._

"_Charlotte, Alice, Alice, Charlotte…"_

_I leaped towards him, and the Life Tree…_

_Only to fall deep into the water, and drown._

A groan. I think it was mine.

"Charlotte, Charlotte, are you going to wake up?"

"…No, no, no…" I rolled over, away from the light that was threatening my sleep state. Small hands cupped my cheek, and then lightly slapped me. "Silly girl, you've slept long enough. Now come on. Time is… of the essence, as you Overworlians say."

I opened my eyes and came face to face with the tiny pale girl, her Candy Apple eyes staring openly into mine. I blinked, groaning, remembering.

"I am the White Rabbit."

I almost laughed. "That's nice. I've heard of you. Aren't you late for something?" My voice laced with sleep and sarcasm. I sat up and looked at the girl from the corner of my eye. We were sitting on my threadbare couch, in my 'Living Room'. The only thing living in my living room was a family of mice. Maybe even some spiders, if they were lucky enough. White Rabbit straightened out her white lace dress, and gave a small, mysterious smile.

"My dear, everyone is late for _something_."

………

Somewhere deep within the lungs of the city, a singular sound rang out above everything else. The sound was something that could make a hardened criminal cry, cause the most vicious animals to shudder and whine, and cause even the most healthy trees and flowers to wither slightly.

It was a laugh. A cackle. A cruel, sick, mindless _chuckle._ Coming from a dark, red mouth, it was more like a death sentence than a show of mirth. The woman issuing the offensive noise pointed her obsidian eyes to the tall, gruff man sitting opposite her. His square jaw looked to be made of steel, his eyes a muddy, greedy brown. He smirked at the beautiful Red Queen.

"Now, _who is it you are looking for_?"

………

The White Rabbit popped up, tittering through the kitchen, a much slower and calmer (albeit confuddled) Charlotte Alice Cidel following. The platinum blonde haired girl looked to be only 11, maybe 12, and was incredibly small, but she seemed much older. She poked her head into various cabinets and bags and boxes, finally stopping in the refrigerator. Charlotte leaned behind a counter, watching her with a somewhat placated expression, and Rabbit was fine with rooting and mumbling. She finally made an 'aha' noise, and pulled an armful of something out of the off-white, ancient fridge. She dropped the items in front of the bewildered teen with satisfaction.

"…Plums." Charlotte's gray eyes surveyed the inoffensive fruits, picking one up skeptically with a pale hand.

"I didn't have any plums." She dropped her gaze onto the strange little girl, who was smiling to herself.

"Apparently you did. Don't question it, just eat it, Mary Anne." She murmured, beginning to skip away. Charlotte's eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "Um, Rabbit, did you just call me…?"

But the girl was out of the room, and out of earshot. "I'm afraid I can't hear you, dear Charlotte Alice. You should come back in here."

Grabbing two of the ripe plums, she stepped out of the small kitchen and sat next to White Rabbit again. The young girl just stared easily at the older girl, her eyes curiously watching her devour the purple, sweet fruit. Charlotte closed her eyes and swallowed, almost moaning in contentment. She mumbled something along the lines of 'best goddamn plum _I've _ever tasted' before turning to the mysterious White Rabbit.

"So, you'll explain everything to me now?"

………

Time seemed to slow after I said that. I sat patiently as a flurry of emotions and conflictions passed over the pale face that was inches from my own. A few minutes and bites of _sinfully _delicious plum later, she turned her cherry eyes to mine, her face suddenly playfully spiteful.

"No." She hopped to her feet, standing above me with her arms crossed. My mouth opened incredulously.

"Really? _Really? _You explode from a fucking mushroom in the corner of my _very dead_ garden and then you call me weird names and give me weird fruits and you won't tell me what's going on?!" The words flooded angrily from my mouth and my arms flew up into the air. This all seemed to just entertain the white rabbit that much more.

"Ah, ah, don't lose your temper with me, silly girl. You'll get your answers in due time. I just want wait for the others. I am not about to explain everything by myself," she almost whispered.

"And where in the _world_ are they?" I growled out, surprised at my own anger. The White Rabbit just smiled wider, if possible. Her eyes looked everywhere but at me.

"Well, March Hare disappeared for a little bit. I'm guessing that will happen from time to time, seeing as we are not from this world. Cheshire Cat is probably in the attic, and Mad Hatter is most probably going through your things."

………

**A/N: Okay, so there you go. Chapter two. It's a tad longer than the first, which was way harder than I thought it would be. I have a new respect for authors who write four thousand word chapters. You guys are amazing. And, thanks to ****mutantsrocktheworld****, ****lovelyarisu****, and especially ****ShyLikeThat**** for reviewing. (:**

**Also, check out ShyLikeThat's Cheshire Cat story. It's magically delicious. C;**

**Please tell me what you think. Reviewwwwww!**


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Oh wow. I had a great response to the last chapter, holy moly. Thanks you guys :D

Well, I'd like you guys to know that I'm sorry my updates take a gosh darn long time. I baby-sit my brother's kids, and it's just really hard to write when I have a three year old, a ten month old, and a five month old climbing on me :) Um, well, I have a contest thing to propose to you. I'll announce it at the end, because I can.

**Chapter Three**.

"He's… going through my things? The Mad Hatter, the one from the Tea Party… he's, he's… Oh my," Why must my life be so strange? Is it because of something I did? When I pushed that one kid down at the playground when I was ten because he made fun of my Mom, or when four years later I smoked out for the first time at that same playground? Is this all just some sort of sick punishment? Why me?

But I didn't voice that. I didn't say anything. I just plopped down on my couch, fingering the tattered maroon threads.

"Yes. The Mad Hatter. Really, is this all that much of a shock to you, dear Charlotte Alice? Didn't your Grand Mother ever tell you about her Grandmother's trip to Wonderland?" The White Rabbit's words made no sense, so I just didn't bother replying.

"So who should I look for first, Miss Rabbit?" I murmured, but then almost jumped when she answered me.

"I think that the Hatter would actually be best to retrieve. He's probably somewhere in your undergarment drawer now, knowing him…" She rambled off and I leapt out of my sitting position, sprinting down the darkened hallway like an athlete.

"THAT'S WHERE I KEEP MY STASH!"

………

Why do females wear such strange lacy garments? Really, I just don't understand the purpose. No matter how appealing to the eye they are, they really wouldn't do the female any good if she was-

"You! What are you doing?" I wretched my hand from the cherry wood dresser, dropping the offending garment into the agape drawer. In a flash, that darned girl had jumped in front of me and slammed the woodwork, making a loud crash as the force caused a small glass of water to smash delicately onto the floor, scattering glass everywhere. I looked from the shards on the worn wooden floor to the girl's manic, flustered face.

"What?"

"Why were you going through my things?" Her gray gaze steeled onto mine, causing me to shrink back. I scoffed to hide my tid bit of fear.

"Well I never! All I wanted to do was try to get to know this _new_ Alice better and-"

"First off, my name isn't Alice, or Charlotte-Alice, it's Charlotte. Or Charlie, or Char, or whatever you wish to nickname me, I don't care. Alice is my _middle_ name, and thus you do not have to entitle me-"

I lost track of what she was saying and began to titter around the room, taking in everything. The last time I was out of wonderland, things were much, much different. Although I do believe I was in this house, it looked a lot more… Hmm, alive. Yes, alive is the right word. My fingers trailed lazily on the walls, and along the mushrooms that were growing sporadically there.

"Are you even listening to me, Mad Hatter?" I turned with a flourish.

"Ah, ahem, ahh, no, I was not, it seems. Luckily, Charlotte Alice, your words don't mean anything to me, and thus I was not missing anything. But," I stepped closer to her as her face seemed to get stormier and stormier, "I would prefer it if you just called me Hatter."

………

The two took this moment to really absorb the other. When he saw her, he saw the gray eyes, turning like storm clouds; hair the color of those things that they called 'electrical wires', twisted into braids and some dreads and looking overall like a flooglesnork's mane; her skin, an 'olive' tone, but hadn't seen the light of day in so long it looked pale and translucent, and marred by small white and pink scars and beauty marks and freckles. He looked down and (once again) took in the curvaceous figure, not exactly an hourglass yet. The figure belied the girl's age, as did the somewhat roundness to her cheeks. Wide hips were cloaked with a casual (albeit dirty) grass green, floor length dress. He guessed, looking at her impossibly round eyes and lips, that she was a mere teenager.

When she saw him, she saw green eyes. Eyes as green as grass after a spring rain, growing between dirty concrete sidewalks. She saw his gangly height and stature, easily peaking at more that six feet; frazzled dirty blonde hair, with maybe an orange undertone or streak; the eccentric clothing, from the black top hat to the purple tail-coat, opened to reveal a tangerine and lime vest over a simple white button up, and the long, black trousers. She saw his hands held awkwardly to his side, his cream colored fists clenching and unclenching. The freckles on his nose made him look like a five year old, but the girl dazedly thought that he was probably around twenty-four years of age.

They saw each other, and then they looked away. The girl shook her head awkwardly and broke the silence of the moment.

"I'll call you Hatter if you call me Charlotte. And only Charlotte." He smiled despite her somewhat guarded expression.

"Aha, a deal then? I rather like deals. It's a deal, Miss Charlotte." He jovially grabbed her small hand and shook it, silently appreciating the contrasting softness of her palm and coarseness of her slender fingers. He then silently cursed when she took her hand back, and her peaceful expression once again went somewhat sour and her palms settled on those hips of hers.

"Now, go into my living room, and sit with Rabbit. I have to get the Cat and the Hare." She shook away the ridiculousness of the sentence she let past her lips and ushered the man out of her room, grabbing her Marlboro's and a lighter on the way out.

………

I stretched my legs and once again relished the feeling. The feeling of having two legs and two arms, both long and strong and not ending with claws. Although the claws did make me feel a tad more vicious, less defenseless, I would prefer being (mostly) hairless any day. My gaze traveled once again out of the window whose seat I was curled on, relishing in the sight and sound of rain pattering against the grimy glass and thunder cracking dangerously in the distance. But of coarse, my small little world was penetrable.

"Ah, ha, there you are, Cheshire Cat." I turned my head a fraction of an inch to look at the girl, in her muddy, 5'6" glory. In my current form, it wouldn't be hard to run and grab her where she stands and-

"Well, are you going you come or not?" She had been speaking. Hm, probably something useless. I'm sure this Alice isn't at all very different from the last one. Still full of stupid, thoughtless, childish yammering. I smirked.

"What was that, Charlotte Alice? I'm afraid I wasn't listening." I watched as she rolled her eyes and sighed, bringing her hand to her face and rubbing her eyes tiredly. She moaned something sounding like, '_why don't these damn people listen to me?'_ before turning her sights back to mine.

"I said that Rabbit wants to tell me why you all are here, but she'll only do it if you're all together. So can you _please,_ for the love of God, get out of my dusty attic and into my less-dusty-but-still-dusty-living room?" She finished with a huff. I leapt gracefully from my perch and I could feel those jellied orbs in her eye-sockets follow my every movement, following the trail my feet (not paws) left on the dusty floorboards, following the chorded muscle that made up my arms and legs, following my hardened, predatory gaze.

Following my body as I walked right past her. Following the sound of my fleeting voice as I disappeared a body part at a time. Following the gust of wind my sigh blew at her neck.

"Yesss, Miss Charlotte Alice. _Will do."_

………

Now, to find that damn March Hare. Where could a storybook character turned teenage boy have disappeared to? Rabbit said that sometimes they just _disappeared_, that it was common or something. Disappear like that Cat boy just did? Or is it only the Cheshire Cat that can disappear piece by piece? Why was this all so _goddamn strange_?

I rubbed my eyes again, taking a drag on the tar-stick in my fingers, letting the gray smoke fill my lungs until it burned and I was sure that I probably had lung cancer. I let the breath go and watched the smoke filter in front of my eyes, and curiously, twist and turn into an arrow, pointing me down the hall to my left.

"What in the world…" I blinked. Did my cigarette smoke just point me in the direction of my bathroom? As I stared the smoke in question turned into a hand, shaking, it seemed, with disappointment. It danced behind me and poked the small of my back.

"Okay, okay, I'm going, I'm going…" I walked as quickly as I could with a very solid smoke-hand following me, eventually nearly falling to the floor of my bathroom, the light already on and the door slamming questioningly behind me. I whirled around, banging on the door, gripping the handle and turning it to no avail. I huffed, a small curl of hair flying back to its' place. A sound from behind me startled me, making me fall backwards onto my behind and scrambling to get my back against the door. The shower had stuttered to life, water steaming onto my tile floor. I stood shakily, deciding that maybe a shower would be nice. After all of this craziness, I could use the calming, sobering effects of a shower. Maybe they'll all be gone when I get out? All of the vines, and mushrooms, and all the drugs, and all of the little girls and strange men…. All gone. And I can be back with my family and… and… Never mind. That sure as hell won't happen. Not in this lifetime.

Stripping off the filthy dress, I stepped carefully into my shower, relishing in the feel of the hot water. For that moment I didn't care about the state of the old house, I didn't care about Green eyes, I didn't care about the tendrils of smoke floating out of the showerhead along with the steaming liquid, but I just breathed. I breathed in that smoke, letting it congeal in my lungs, and I grabbed the soap and rubbed it half-heartedly over me, and then shampooing, conditioning. Moving mechanically. I barely noticed when hands grabbed my shoulders, moving up to my neck.

"Charlotte. You… you're the reason, Miss Charlotte. You're the one that has got her so, so _angry, angry, angry,_ you dense girl. You child…" The Blue Woman's voice cut through the steam and left only smoke. My eyes opened wide and I froze.

"Who is angry with me? Who are you?"

"_Who? WHO?! WHO ARE YOU?!"_ The voice boomed drowning out everything, drowning me. I was drowning, unable to breathe, the smoke the smoke the smoke…

I turned and there was no one. I was standing naked, soaking wet in my room. I shivered and collapsed to a drenched heap on my floor. Helpless helpless helpless.

………

My father's smile, my mother's laugh, my brother's hands. I missed everything. I missed nothing. I prefer the drugs, I prefer my family, I prefer the drugs, I prefer the drugs, to you, Mom, I'd rather be high, Dad, I don't care about you, Jack, I don't care I don't care I don't. I never will.

"_You'd rather be alone, Charlotte?"_

"_Yes." Lies. Always lies. I lived and breathed false truths. The falsehood grew in me like a fungus, like a cancer. "I love you too much to put you in a rehab center, just just just live in the house you'll come home come home come home when you're ready ready ready…"_

"_I love you, dear."_

_Silence returned the oath, and I left my house._

………

I dressed quickly, and trudged down my hallway, happy for once for the company (although insane) as their faces came into my vision. I walked past them into my kitchen, looking for something to settle my stomach. I opened the fridge and screamed.

"Oh my, finally. Finally. Took you long enough to open the damn door. They really should make these death trap things open both ways. Who knows what or _whom_ could be trapped in a fridge…?" The March Hare stumbled out of the depths or my refrigerator, keeping his shoulders and back straight. '_Trying to keep his dignity'_, I though tiredly. I just hung my head, quite honestly not surprised anymore. After this, I don't think anything could surprise me. I grabbed another plum from the center shelf, pulling it from the vine that seemed to have sprout only recently. Closing the door I grabbed a bag of cookies from the counter and sat on the floor in front of my new houseguests, all settled quite comfortably on my couch. Excluding Cat, who was pacing thoughtfully to my right. Rabbit smiled.

"So I'm guessing you want an explanation?"

………

The Red Queen looked to her new charge, taking in his curved spine, the 5 o'clock shadow that never seemed to leave his face. The yellowed eyes that watched everything. He was the perfect one to help her move out her plan, no matter how seemingly unintelligent. Her thoughts moved back to his previous question and a cruel smile moved back unto her pale, perfect, beautiful face.

**My kingdom was perfect.**

_Charlotte, wonderland was in a state of chaos. More so that normal, that is. Everything had lost its color, everything was wrong, in the bad way._

**I ruled with an iron fist. That whole damned world was mine. I could murmur a word and people, men, would **_**rush**_** to do my bidding. All was well, all was dead.**

The Red Queen, the Queen of Hearts, ruled just about everything. She ordered people dead all of the time. I have lost so many friends… Mary Anne… but that is beside the point. Everything was wrong until, well, you, I guess.

**One day, color returned to Wonderland. People began to hope, began to rebel against me. All was '**_**beautiful**_**' they said. All was right. Oh, but not to me. My power dimmed. I was over thrown.**

It was your imagination, Charlotte. You see, your mind is our world. Your mind, and your mother's mind, and her mother's mind… All the way up to The Alice. The original. She created out world, and since then, it's been clinging to all of your minds, all of your creativity and childhood whiles. But, you see, when the Alice was, well, committed, that was when her childhood, her imagination died. Wonderland turned gray, and the Red Queen ruled. But, then you came along. Your mind is the most unique, most imaginative yet. Your mind is our haven. But, lately, everything seemed to be a little too Wonderlandish, I guess. Things began disappearing, people began disappearing… Coming to your world. The Overworld.

**This girl, this New Alice, she unleashed it. She unleashed MY domain unto her world.**

Your mind was so fragile, so broken. You had no real sense of reality. So, I'm guessing that's where we came in. Wonderland was able to filter in through those cracks in your subconscious and well, here we are, Dear.

**She stole it. Stole my world. I want it back.**

………

A/N: Oh man, that was crazy. I feel crazy. Is it bad that every time I write an update for this I feel somewhat insane? Hmm, well, um, yeah. You should all tell me how you feel about that. Do you like the context of my story? Do you like the characters? Do you like that I switch perspectives every two seconds? Tell me. C:

Contest-Thing: First person to guess at where I got the name for this story (Talking Bird) gets… whatever they want. For real. And no Google :)

I made a play list on Imeem of what I write to. Mostly St. Vincent, Bright Eyes, Manchester Orchestra, and Death Cab for Cutie.

………


End file.
